Cigarettes are generally dangerous to one's health and can even lead to death, but most smokers, even though they are told about the lasting effects of smoking, do not realize the long term effects that smoking, or not smoking, can have on their health. Although quitting smoking seems ideal, it takes an extended period of time to stop smoking, and some struggle to make it past the critical point in which they no longer feel the withdrawals. It may seem as though it's impossible to escape the craving, but once enough time has passed, it is in fact possible. The progression of time plays a large part in an effort to quit smoking, as shown in the image. Through the use of lighting, position, and symbolism, the passage of time can be related to smoking. The image depicts the effects of smoking or not smoking through the passage of time.

The lighting is clearly seen in the image, as it takes up most of the image. There are a variety of shades of gray, and down the center there is a softly growing light when viewed from left to right. The gray depicts the hardships surrounded by quitting and the depressing feelings one gets when they are first attempting to quit. As the image and lighting are looked at from left to right, it can be seen as the passing of time. The left, and darkest, part of the image appears closest to the butt end of the cigarette. This portrays the effects of smoking and how it can be an ominous path to go down. Smoking can lead to multiple serious illnesses, including death, even after one has quit smoking. After quitting, represented by the cigarette no longer burning, one can still feel the gray effects of smoking, and it can be hard to escape the small amount of light that surrounds the area closest to the cigarette. There is a small area of light above the cigarette that conveys that smoking can feel good at first, but the large amount gray surrounding the small light accounts for the mass amount of negatives surrounding cigarettes. As the image progresses further away from the cigarette, the light grows brighter, showing the progression of time and the positives of quitting. This symbolizes a "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling that shows that after enough time passes one can come to find the positives of quitting. The small amount of gray surrounding the brighter light indicates that some effects of smoking will take longer to fade away or may even last forever. 

The positioning of the cigarette and the lighting allows for the progression of time to be seen in a sequential fashion. At first, quitting can be dark and difficult as shown in the first part of the image with the cigarette surrounded by almost all dark grays. The cigarette being at the beginning allows for the viewer to see that the cigarette is the source of the problem. Then, moving further along the cigarette, there appears a figure out of the ash that is struggling. This is representative of how it feels to quit smoking and that it may be a struggle to do so at first. Towards the end of the image, the cigarette is furthest away, and the light is the brightest. The distance from the object represents the passage of time sequentially and shows that the further away from the cigarette one gets, the more time that has passed, and the brighter things will be. If there were an extension of the image, one would expect to see more and brighter light as the distance progressed further away from the cigarette. As one views the image from left to right, it can be seen that the beginning of quitting can lead to a struggle, but if the struggle continues, the light at the end of the tunnel can be found, even if one loses something along the way that was a part of themselves.

Symbolism can be used to relate one object to another, and in this case, quitting smoking to the hardships faced by those who do quit. The man in distress formed by the ash and smoke of the cigarette shows the hardships of quitting smoking and how it can feel. The man is down on the ground struggling, lifting has hand as he tries to elude the cigarette and step away from it. The closer his body is to the cigarette, the less there is of him. His legs are nonexistent and his body builds up as he is further and further away from the cigarette. This forming of the man as the distance is increased can be seen as him reaching for the light, but part of him is still stuck, wanting to smoke another cigarette. There are still pieces falling of the man as he gets further away, showing that although he is beginning to be built up, he is still losing some part of him that he once had in the struggle to get away. Also, there is smoke coming off of the man and going into the surroundings that conveys that the struggle is not only effecting him, but his surroundings as well, such as his family or friends or work. The formation of the ash and smoke into the man creates the image that part of him is formed by his past of smoking as he tries to quit. 

If the image were viewed in reverse, it could be seen as the effects of smoking. The closer one gets to smoking, the more ominous the image becomes and the person breaks down and becomes defined by smoking and the light fades away everywhere besides around the cigarette. Time is needed to be able to quit smoking and the only way to quit, is with the progression of time. The longer one goes without smoking, the better their health, and way of seeing the world in a brighter way become. The light at the end of the tunnel of quitting can be acquired through the progression of time away from the cigarette.
